UPDATE: Reyes now walking through every finding of the studies Hegseth relied on for transgender ban. Virtually every finding cuts against Hegseth's conclusion that it supports the ban. She wants to know why she should defer to his "cherrypicking" and "misleading" analysis.

Reyes notes that a key study relied on by Hegseth for his transgender ban actually concluded that transgender service members were *more* deployable and had fewer lapses in service than people diagnosed w depression who are not automatically excluded from service.

Reyes then recounted meeting Barrett and appreciating that the new justice had complimented a photo of Reyes' dog Scout. For more on Scout www.politico.com/news/2024/10...

While we're waiting: Reyes began the hearing in her usual friendly but frenetic way. She asked the new DOJ lawyer, Jason Manion, whether it was true he previously worked for Ted Cruz on the Amy Barrett confirmation. Then she asked him what it was like. He said "fast."

Judge Reyes taking a 30 minute break asking DOJ lawyer to read the reports and compare how they are quoted in the Hegseth transgender ban policy. Then she wants to hear DOJ's position on whether she should rely on Hegseth's representation of those reports.

Reyes now chewing out DOJ lawyer for not having read the three reports cited by Secretary Hegseth's transgender ban policy — she says the policy "egregiously misquoted" the reports and wants to get into that, and she can't fathom that DOJ lawyer hasn't read them.

REYES notes that SecDef Hegseth RTed "Transgender troops are disqualified from service without an exemption."

DOJ trying to argue that Hegseth was using "shorthand" and didn't mean it that way. Reyes not buying it: "Explain to me why i should ignore that?"

REYES now wondering how the government intends to define people who "exhibit symptoms of gender dysphoria," which could include all sorts of things -- like depression. "This seems like it opens up the entire scope to basically anything."

DOJ says there is no guidance on this yet

It’s time for everyone who writes for the Post to quit. Put this disgraced enterprise out of its misery.

Oh, looky—here’s an ACTUAL ad paid for by ELON MUSK that Bezos’s Washington Post DID Run a few months ago.

For those of you I don't already know from the other place, my apologies. I tend to get sort of sarcastic about issues like this.

7. So, employment didn't decline between September and January because of the wage increase. It consistently declines during that period every year, which you can see reflected in the red line in the chart below. That's why the BLS offers seasonally adjusted data, represented by the blue line.

6. Every year, there is a modest decline in employment at fast food restaurants from November through January, “when many people travel for holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas and spend time cooking and eating with family.”